Genesis 18.19

 

I find very interesting every time I spend time in the word. His quiet whisper always comes at His perfect time and when I least expect it. I am reading O. Chambers this morning I am on March 20^th (go figure) Very good devotion. It comes from

Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Genesis 18:17.

So I went to Genesis to look at that passage, but it was verse 19 that got me this morning

18:19 "For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." (NASB95)

So as soon as I read this I hear "Kevin I have chosen you to lead your household you have to make a choice to keep my ways or live by your ways. Live by my ways and I will bless you. Walk in righteousness. Can it get any planner … yet I choose to make it difficult at times. Today's devotion is below.

Oswald Chambers March 20th

 

Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Genesis 18:17.

It's Delights. This chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God's will, and all your commonsense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.

It's Difficulties. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly on until God granted his desire; there was something yet to be desired in his relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say—'Well, I don't know; perhaps it is not God's will,'—there is still another stage to go. We are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to be—"That they may be one even as we are one." Think of the last thing you prayed about—were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? "Your Heavenly Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him." The point of asking is that you may get to know God better. "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

 

I wonder what that looks like … getting a perfect understanding of God Himself. Will you ever know …. Will I every know?

Be Blessed and walk it out

Kevin

Luke 14:25-34

Luke 14:25-34 (NASB95)
26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

Hate is a strong word here, it is more like follow me and don't let anything get in the way. It would appear like hatred but actually it is devotion to Jesus. I myself tend to let things get in the way at times. Like my work or Wife or ….. Whatever it is that gets between me and Jesus
27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
What is my cross?

28 "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
It seems every day I have to count the costs of my actions. I know that walking with Jesus is not easy. There are decisions that have to be made every day. It is something I enjoy, but it is hard. Can you relate?
33 "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Man oh Man this last passage is the one that speaks the most. Have I given up everything? EVERYTHING? Do I have any secret sins that I am holding on to? Am I controlling my money? What is the one thing that I am not willing to let go of. Am I afraid or are you afraid if you let that one thing go, that life will never be the same? It might not be, but when you and I chose to follow Jesus. We made a decision then, understanding ……………… that I our life would never be the same.

Be blessed today and walk it out

Kevin

2 Corinthian 7:1

2 Corinthian 7:1
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.NASB95

Oswald Chambers Devo this morning directed me to 2 Corinthians 7. It really got me thinking about the Fear of the Lord. It says to cleanse ourselves which is James 5.16. So I have to ask me self is there anything that I have not confessed that is holding me back from having what I would call a "Healthy Fear of the Lord"? I will have to chew on that one for a while.

Be blessed today and walk in unity, be transformed by walking in obedience

Kevin

1 Corinthians 9:1-2

1 Corinthians 9:1-2
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.NASB95

Woke up at 4:30 just on fire for what the Lord has for me this morning and I was not disappointed. I read a couple of devotions, but it was Oswald Chambers that grabbed me today and sent me to 1 Corinthians 9.

Am I not free?
Yes I am

Am I not an apostle? Yes I am (1 a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders. )

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
Yes I have in many ways in different people and through some of my dearest friends.

Are you not my work in the Lord?
Always … constantly and forever.

If to others I am not an apostle, (that is okay because I don't need approval of man) at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
Oswald Chambers writes "My worth to God in public is what I am in private .................. It is not the act of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but our lack of laboring to keep the ideal right

1 Corinthians 9:27
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.NLT

The last thing I want to be is disqualified.

As I move forward in this walk and certain men have told me this …. I am a teacher. I carry a bigger responsibility and I will be held more accountable. As of late more and more men are calling me and looking to me for prayer and advice. It is a good place to be in. The enemy wants to tell me ….. If they really knew you they wouldn't call you. So now more than ever I need to be in prayer. If I have the responsibility of speaking into one man's life and Holy Spirit changes him. That is as powerful as speaking to 1000 men

James 3:1
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.NLT

It has been a good morning

Kevin

 

1 Samuel 17.47

1 Samuel 17:47
Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands."NKJV

There is nothing new under the sun …. Such a catchy phrase …… but it is scripture. Was reading about David and Goliath this morning? It got me thinking about this lust issue I have. I know it is a heart issue. I feel this morning that the reason I fail in this area is because of the choices I make but also because I choose NOT to rely on the Lord. I make the battle my own and I don't even realize I am doing it. I think I am giving it to the Lord but I don't.

Full surrender is full peace. If we are restless and concerned about things formerly renounced, we have not generally surrendered. Surrender is the source of true peace. If we are not at peace. It is because our surrender is not complete. This quote came out of a book I have read in for eight years and it resonates in my heart all of the time.

Hebrews 12:4
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.NIV

When does it become that you are shedding your own blood?

Kevin

1 Corinthians 1.9

Yesterday was a hard day. I felt beat up all day and it was all my own doing. As Marc Owings would say, "the boomerang came back around and hit me" Sometimes I feel like I have absolutely no control over my actions and yet I know that is a lie. As I sat on the couch yesterday watching Robin Hood it just hit me like a ton of bricks and I just sobbed for about three minutes. It was very cleansing. Then I though, I have been here before.

I have been reading in a book called "Never Quit" by Edwin Louis Cole I just opened it up to chpt 9 a week ago. It says "We must be able to accept responsibility for failure before we are able to accept responsibility for success" So I have to ask myself, Have I accepted responsibility for my failures? Passing the test will purify us from previous failures. Hmmm I have read the above quote many times over the last week and thought about it. I am just not convinced.

This morning as I am eating my breakfast I hear 1 Corinthians 1.9. I actually thought I had conjured up that thought….. That I was grasping ….. Wanting to hear Him.

1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. NASB95

 

I read I realized it was Him.

Romans 8:30
and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.NASB95